Classic Rakugo stories Summary
RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales turns 12 masterpieces of classic rakugo, comic stories told and retold in Japanese variety halls (yose) from the Edo period through the Meiji and Taisho eras, into stand-alone manga episodes. Rakugo is a Japanese art of comic storytelling: a single storyteller (hanashika) plays every character, then ends the tale with a punchline called the ochi (or sage).
In Episode 1, Manju Kowai ("Scared of Sweet Buns"), a boastful man lies his way into getting his friends to buy him sweet buns. In Sokotsu Nagaya ("The Scatterbrained Tenement"), a hasty man goes to collect his own dead body, and in Meguro no Sanma ("The Saury of Meguro"), a sheltered lord falls in love with the grilled saury that common people eat. There is also Dakudaku, about a man who lives with furniture painted on his walls and the burglar who robs him, and Konnyaku Mondo ("The Konnyaku Dialogue"), where a konnyaku maker defeats a traveling monk using nothing but gestures.
The second half brings Inu no Me ("The Dog's Eyes"), where a quack doctor puts a dog's eyes into a patient; Dobutsuen ("The Zoo"), about a man hired to wear a tiger skin; Oji no Kitsune ("The Fox of Oji"), where a man out-tricks a fox; Cha no Yu ("The Tea Ceremony"), where a know-it-all retiree hosts a dreadful tea party; Sokotsu no Shisha ("The Scatterbrained Messenger"), about a samurai who forgets his message; Yuya-ban ("The Bathhouse Attendant"), where a young master can't stop daydreaming at the bathhouse counter; and Tanokyu, where a giant serpent demands that an actor "show me your transformation." Every story comes with an explanation of its punchline.
Story summary
Episode 1He Fears Nothing—Except Sweet Buns — Manju Kowai (Scared of Sweet Buns)
In the mangaEpisode 1 of the series. Tough-talking Matsu swears nothing scares him, until his tenement pals corner him and he turns pale: "Truth is... sweet buns terrify me." To teach him a lesson, they pile a mountain of buns by his pillow. But Matsu screams "So scary!" and eats every last one.
In the original mythManju Kowai, usually translated as "Scared of Sweet Buns," is one of the best-known stories in rakugo, Japan's traditional art of comic storytelling. It is short, simple, and built around a single clever trick, which is why it is often one of the first stories people meet.
Episode 2The Man Who Claimed His Own Corpse — Sokotsu Nagaya (The Scatterbrains' Row)
In the mangaEpisode 2 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. Hasty Hachi finds a man who died in the street at Asakusa and decides it's his best friend and next-door neighbor, Kuma. When someone points out the obvious ("But you saw him this morning!"), Hachi just steamrolls right past it. He drags Kuma himself over to collect "his own body." Then Kuma, sobbing as he hugs the corpse, hits a question nobody can answer.
In the original mythSokotsu Nagaya ("The Scatterbrains' Row") is a classic comic tale from Edo rakugo, the Japanese art of storytelling, and storytellers have handed it down for generations. No single author is credited. For our manga we checked the plot against a sokki-bon, a word-for-word shorthand transcript of a live performance, from the Meiji–Taishō era (1868–1926). This one records Yanagiya Kosan III, who died in 1930. The…
Episode 3They Ruined His Favorite Fish by Being Polite — The Saury of Meguro (Meguro no Sanma)
In the mangaEpisode 3 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. For the first time in his life, the Lord gets truly hungry. Out in the fields of Meguro, he bites into a saury fresh off an old farmer's fire and falls head over heels for it. When he finally gets his favorite dish at a relative's feast, the Head Cook has painstakingly stripped out every drop of oil and every last bone. Faced with the sad result, the Lord announces a verdict that completely misses the point.
In the original myth"Meguro no Sanma" (The Saury of Meguro) is one of the best-known stories in rakugo, Japan's traditional comic storytelling. Tellings differ in the details, but the widely known version goes like this. A feudal lord, the head of a samurai household who has never wanted for anything, rides out with his retainers to the fields of Meguro. In some versions it is a falconing trip. Nobody packed lunch, and before long the…
Episode 4Robbing a House Where Nothing Is Real — Dakudaku
In the mangaEpisode 4 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. The Penniless Tenant owns no furniture at all, so he has a whole wall painted with fine things and lives as if they were real. Then a nearsighted burglar breaks in, finds it's all paint, and starts acting out a pretend robbery. Soon both men are fighting a duel of pure make-believe.
In the original mythDakudaku is a classic comic tale from rakugo, Japan's traditional art of storytelling. It starts with a man so poor that he owns no furniture at all. When he moves into a room in a nagaya (a row-house tenement where working people lived), he doesn't want the place to look empty. So he covers a wall with paper and asks a painter he knows to fill it with fine household goods: a chest of drawers, and a spear resting…
Episode 5He Won a Zen Duel With Hand Signs Alone — Konnyaku Mondo
In the mangaEpisode 5 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. Rokubei the Konnyaku Maker sits in for Hachi, a fake monk who's in way over his head, at a high-stakes debate of faith. Without saying a single word, Rokubei gets a traveling monk to bow down in defeat using nothing but gestures. The catch? Rokubei thought the whole time that they were haggling over the price of konnyaku.
In the original mythKonnyaku Mondo ("The Konnyaku Debate," also called The Silent Zen Debate) is a classic rakugo comic tale. It starts with Hachigoro, or Hachi, a good-for-nothing who has run out of luck in Edo (old Tokyo). He flees to the countryside and leans on Rokubei, a tough, good-natured man who runs a small konnyaku shop. Many tellings put the village near Annaka in Kozuke Province (today's Gunma), but details like this…
Episode 6His New Dog Eyes Work Great. Almost. — Inu no Me (The Dog's Eyes)
In the mangaEpisode 6 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. A craftsman with sore eyes goes to a doctor everyone's talking about, who pops out his eyeballs to wash them. But while the eyeballs are hanging out to dry, a stray dog gobbles them up, and the doctor covers his tracks by putting the dog's eyes in instead. The man is thrilled to see better than ever, until he comes back to say thank you and admits to one small problem. (Adapted: the original punchline's "telegraph pole" has been swapped for "a tree" to fit the late-Edo setting.)
In the original mythInu no Me, or "The Dog's Eyes," is one of the shortest and silliest stories in the classic rakugo repertoire. A man with sore eyes visits an eye doctor everyone praises. The doctor removes the man's eyeballs to wash them, a dog eats them, and the doctor quietly puts the dog's eyes in instead. The whole story builds toward a single line at the very end.
Episode 7The Fake Tiger Has to Fight a Lion — Dōbutsuen (The Zoo)
In the mangaEpisode 7 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. In Meiji-era Osaka, a man who can't get up in the morning can't hold down a job either. Then he hears about one where you get a full day's pay just for sitting around. The catch: he has to wear a tiger skin. The kids love him, and he's feeling pretty proud of himself, right up until somebody announces "the Great Battle of Tiger vs. Lion."
In the original mythDōbutsuen, which means "The Zoo," is a classic rakugo, a Japanese comic story told by a single performer. Our telling follows a version performed by Katsura Bunnosuke II, a storyteller from Osaka. His performance was taken down in shorthand and printed in a 1915 collection of his stories. The tale has a very simple setup and one of the best-known final twists in comic storytelling.
Episode 8The Fox Who Got Fooled by a Human — Oji no Kitsune (The Fox of Oji)
In the mangaEpisode 8 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. A cocky carpenter spots a fox turning herself into a pretty girl and decides to fool her first. He wines and dines "Otama" at a restaurant, then slips out and sticks her with the bill. But when his older friend warns him that foxes always come back for revenge, he goes pale and hurries off with sweet rice cakes as an apology. The trouble is, the fox family won't trust even the rice cakes.
In the original mythOji no Kitsune ("The Fox of Oji," sometimes called "Outfoxing the Fox") is a classic rakugo comic story set in Edo, the old name for Tokyo. A man walking near the fox shrine at Oji, then a rural spot on the edge of the city, sees a fox put a leaf on its head, spin around once, and turn into a pretty young woman. He guesses she is about to play a trick on some poor traveler, and he decides to trick her first.
Episode 9Nobody Dares Say This Tea Is Awful — Cha no Yu (The Tea Ceremony)
In the mangaEpisode 9 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. Bored in retirement, the Retired Master takes up the tea ceremony. He knows nothing about it, but swears he does. So he keeps hosting his tenants with a mystery "tea" that foams over in green clouds, plus buns he made himself. And meanwhile, in the field beyond the hedge...
In the original mythCha no Yu ("The Tea Ceremony") is a classic rakugo story about pride, boredom, and very bad tea. A wealthy merchant from Kuramae, a busy trading district of Edo (old Tokyo), hands his business to his son and retires to Negishi, a quiet neighborhood on the city's edge where well-off people kept peaceful retirement homes. With him goes Sadakichi, a young shop boy who serves as his helper.
Episode 10He Forgot the Message. The Cure? A Pinch — Sokotsu no Shisha (The Absent-Minded Messenger)
In the mangaEpisode 10 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. Jibuta Jibuemon is a mighty swordsman and a hopeless scatterbrain. Sent by his lord as an envoy, he arrives at another lord's house and forgets the message he came to deliver. There's only one way to jog his memory: someone has to pinch his rear. Tanaka Sandayu's fingers can't get a grip on him, so Tome the Carpenter steps up with a tool in hand...
In the original mythSokotsu no Shisha, usually translated as "The Absent-Minded Messenger" or "The Forgetful Messenger," is a classic rakugo comic tale. The word sokotsu means careless or scatterbrained, and shisha means an envoy. The title gives away the hero's flaw before the story even starts.
Episode 11Daydreaming Out Loud at the Bathhouse — Yuyaban (The Bathhouse Attendant)
In the mangaEpisode 11 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. The Disowned Young Master, freeloading at Kuma's house, finally lands his dream seat: the bandai, the high front desk of a public bathhouse. But the women's side is empty, and the men's side is nothing but sweaty old guys. To kill time, he starts daydreaming about a romance. Before long, he's acting out both parts out loud, and the whole men's bath is watching the show. Then someone shouts, "My geta are gone!"
In the original mythYuyaban, which means "The Bathhouse Attendant," is a classic comic story from rakugo, Japan's art of comic storytelling. Its hero is a wakadanna, the son of a wealthy merchant family, who spent so much on fun that his parents disowned him. With nowhere else to go, he moves into the upstairs room of Kuma, a craftsman who used to do work for his family. He sleeps until noon, eats, and lies around all day. Kuma's wife…
Episode 12Shape-Shift or Be Eaten, Said the Serpent — Tanokyu
In the mangaThe twelfth and final tale of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. When Tanokyu, a village actor, hears that his mother is ill, he sets off over the mountains alone at night. There he meets the Giant Serpent, lord of the mountain, who mishears his name as "tanuki," the shape-shifting raccoon dog of Japanese folklore, and orders him to transform. Tanokyu pulls off a lightning-fast costume change to save his life. Then he says one thing, "What I fear most is money," and it leads to an ending nobody expected.
In the original mythKyūbei is a farmer from a village called Tano in Awa Province (today's Tokushima, on the island of Shikoku). He is such a good amateur actor that people know him by a stage nickname, Tanokyu: "Kyū from Tano." While he is away performing with a traveling troupe, he hears that his mother has fallen ill, so he hurries home alone by a mountain road. Night falls and he loses his way. At last he finds a lonely hut and…